Pope Benedict

Pope Benedict XVI

Type of Ministry:

Pope Benedict XVI was born with the name Joseph Alois Ratzinger. He was born on the 16th of April 1927 and is the current head of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the 265th pope. He became pope after the death of John Paul II, and was elected on April 19, 2005. He was born into a religious family, he was baptised on the day of his birth, and his brother, Georg Ratzinger is a priest. According to relatives, he had wanted to become a cardinal after meeting the Cardinal Archbishop of Munich when he was young. He was drafted into the German army during World War II, but was known to be heavily against it. He was ordained on the 29th of June 1951. He became a professor of theology in 1958, and even did a thesis entitled: "The People and the House of God in Augustine's Doctrine of the Church". In March 1977 he was appointed Archbishop of Munich and Freising and became a cardinal 3 months later, in June. On November 25, 1981, Pope John Paul II named Ratzinger Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Achievements and Impacts:

Pope Benedict was rather similar to John Paul II. His teachings and viewpoints are much alike. He is committed to defending the Catholic Doctrine, and is viewed as conservative. Pope Benedict has written many books and written many teachings related to some important issues of society. He has also made it clear that he will not give in to the pressures of modern society and intends to maintain traditional views on topics such as abortion, homosexuality and birth control. One of his most valued beliefs relates to what he said at a mass one day; "We are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as definitive and has as its highest value one's own ego and one's own desires." Benedict sees a relativism as a central problem of people's faith and has taught about how important the Catholic Church is and also how important prayer and God's love is. Because of the secularisation of many western countries, Benedict has seen the need for a more traditional Catholic stance, but does not disagree with any of the work done